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It seems that many people are wondering whether or not Adobe will continue to support ColdFusion. Let me first say that despite whatever you might think given what you (may think that you) know about me, I have no "insider" information. That said, here's what I think about it...
I've been to numerous government websites that are powered by ColdFusion. If I were Adobe, I wouldn't want to upset the government. Can you say tax audits? ;-)
In all seriousness, I don't think ColdFusion is going to disappear anytime soon -- at least not in the next 2 or 3 years. According to Macromedia's website, ColdFusion 5 is still supported in some capacity until January 1, 2007.
Further, they are still selling their Gold Support Program which is unlimited email or telephone incidents for one year. Adobe would have to honor that agreement, so that says to me that there's at least one more year where ColdFusion will be supported.
So I say, stop your worrying! You can start to worry when you see that Adobe has updated the site and it says they won't support ColdFusion anymore. When they do so, I doubt very much that it would be an overnight end to support. Most likely it would be at least a year from such announcment that support would be discontinued.
Keep in mind that Flex is also tied closely to ColdFusion. Imagine the uproar among Macromedia's (now Adobe's) enterprise level customers if they were to discontinue technologies they invested so much money in.
The aftermath of such a thing would surely damage Adobe's reputation and rattle customer confidence. Adobe has to know this, they aren't blind.
Granted large companies make stoooopid mistakes all the time. In my opinion discountinuing certain technologies such as ColdFusion would be a huge mistake. I just can't see Adobe making a mistake of that magnitude.
If I happen to be wrong and Adobe doesn't keep ColdFusion going, another group/company is sure to pick up where they left off. (If the sky did fall, there's always BlueDragon.)
I for one am sticking to ColdFusion.
Posted by ~Angela | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Permalink
Comment from Arindam on 12/8/2005
If this was a security council meeting at the UN, I second your opinion.
Lol... Thanks Arindam. ~Angela
Comment from Stephen Cassady on 12/7/2005
The action that will make all the ColdFusion worry-warts breathe their collective sigh of relief will be the day that Adobe.com is powered by the Great and Wonderful Cold Fusion. I really do see that being a bigger and more meaninful move that anything at all that could be said (or not said) by emploees and management of Adobe. I would be perfectly comfortable in my love of Cold Fusion even if it never comes into discussion over the years in press releases, annual meetiengs etc (as some CFer comment all the time - "hey, where's the mention of CF?") if we just get the Adobe.com running on CF in it's totality.
That would speak volumes indeed. I seem to recall someone posting a link to some pages on Adobe's site that use ColdFusion back when the merger was first announced but I couldn't find it.
At some point I would expect that Adobe will make some kind of official statement. Until then...we wait! ~Angela
Comment from Dave on 12/7/2005
As long as Microsoft have there web technologies I believe Adobe will have theirs! The new platform that has been mentioned in connection to Flash and PDFmakes me think that we may see a platform develop around ColdFusion too. At the very worst they may eventually change its name!
What's in a name anyhow right? ;-) Of course, they'd have a lot of tags to rename...
The name ColdFusion carries a bit of irony with it; for such an easy language to learn its name sounds like rocket science. I've always liked that I can say, "I'm a ColdFusion programmer." It makes me sound like a genius. ;-)
Thanks for sharing Dave. ~Angela
Comment from Rob Cameron on 12/7/2005
I was a little worried about this too (what does Adobe know about server stuff?) but I've seen several other supportive posts lately, so I'll trust Adobe to watch out for us CFers. For now...
I saw a post of Ben's where he was drooling over the possibilities of integrating some Adobe technology into ColdFusion. I'd LOVE to see Adobe Image Server (or whatever it's called now) integration so that you can make JPEG files on the fly from CF code -- define a Photoshop template and have CF replace text, for example. Sweet!
Speaking of ColdFusion, checked out ColdFusion on Wheels yet? :) http://www.cfwheels.com
Thanks for sharing Rob. There's one thing you said that I want to respond to, 'what does Adobe know about server stuff?'.
Well now they know everything Macromedia did ;-) After all, Adobe hasn't gotten rid of everyone that was Macromedia. Ben Forta is still there and since Ben says that Scorpio is still moving forward, they can't be doing it without other ColdFusion engineers.
Ok, so you probably meant the marketing/sales people at Adobe. Surely they'll do their research and most likely there are at least a few from Macromedia around that can clue them in. :-)
Oh and yes my partner has been keeping an eye on CF on Wheels. With all the frameworks out there and now CF on Wheelse, it just goes to show the kind of following CF has already. I can only imagine that growing. ~Angela
Comment from Ryan on 12/7/2005
And why kill CF...its a profit generator anyway. As long as it makes back a reasonably good percentage on assets/investment and doesn't take away from the brand and corporate goals they would be stupid to kill it.
Goid points Ryan. Thanks for sharing. ~Angela
Comment from Ben Forta on 12/7/2005
ColdFusion is alive and well, Scorpio develpoment is still on track (and it is going to kick some serious butt, there, you heard it here first) ... actually, stay tuned, I am expecting a post specific to ColdFusion and Adobe any time now. (Here's a hint: CF is alive and well!).
Thanks Ben! I figured as much. :-) I'll look forward to reading that one.
[UPDATE]: Here's the link to Ben's site which links to an article. Don't forget to read the blog comments... http://www.forta.com/blog/index.cfm/2005/12/8/Mendels-Interview-Adobe-ColdFusion
~Angela